We wish to extend an invitation to the Compassionate Communities in Palliative and End of Life Care Conference, taking place at the start of Palliative Care Week 2024. 

Date: Monday 9 September 2024 

Time: 09.30- 16.00 

Location: Canal Court Hotel, Newry (Merchants Quay, Newry, Co. Down, Northern Ireland. BT35 8HF) 

The conference aims to promote a compassionate response from communities to support people palliative care needs including at the end of life and bereavement for families and friends. The conference will raise awareness about the challenges people face when dealing with dying, death, and loss in our communities, highlight successful community responses, and discuss constructive solutions to build more equitable compassionate communities. 

We invite community groups, civic society organisations, people with life limiting conditions, family carers and members of the public from across the island of Ireland (to register click on this link). The all-island conference is hosted by the All Ireland Institute of Hospice and Palliative Care, in collaboration with Foyle Hospice and the Irish Hospice Foundation.   

We are very pleased to announce that the event will be opened by:  

Prof Allan Kellehear, Professor in Health and Social Care, Northumbria University and a Pioneer in Compassionate Communities approaches 

and 

Micheál Martin T.D., Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs and Minister for Defence. 

For further details of the programme see (Link)  

Call for projects – We would also like to take this opportunity to call for exemplar community projects. We would like to hear from you if you are involved in supporting a project in the community which is aimed at supporting people with life-limiting conditions or people dealing with dying, death, and loss in the community. These projects can be run by organisations, by volunteers or a single individual. They can be big or small and located anywhere across the island of Ireland. For example, do you bring people together to talk about their loss? Let us know how you support your community. Please submit a short application by 5pm on Monday, 19 August. Submit your statement through this form.  

For further information on the event, please visit the website.